Steven Soderbergh may keep threatening to retire, but at the moment he’s got loads of projects lined up, with Contagion due in cinemas soon, male stripper flick Magic Mike shooting later this year, a Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas in the works and The Man From U.N.C.L.E, which is meant to go into production in the spring.
However, Soderbergh firming up plans for Man From U.N.C.L.E seems to have had the unfortunate side effect that George Clooney is reportedly dropping out of the cast, according to Deadline. The reasons behind his departure are unknown, but scheduling is likely to be the problem.
At the moment Soderbergh will still shoot the movie next February, with CinemasBlend recently reporting that the script is complete. However it appears a lot of casting will need to be done in the next few months. For most directors losing someone like Clooney would be a disaster, but Soderbergh has an impressive ability to attract talent, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
While several of the scripts for the long-gestationg U.N.C.L.E. movie have attempted to modernise the story, Soderbergh wants to go back to series’ root, keep the setting in the 60s (one of the director’s favourite periods). The original TV show featured the espionage adventures of Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David MacCallum), agents of United Network Command for Law Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.), who fight the forces of T.H.R.U.S.H. (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity).